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Hygiene Kits are essential on Skid Row. In a community where residents have to wait in line to shower or use the restroom, many do not have the patience to do so or the inclination to use such public facilities. This means many go unshowered for days, even weeks, neither brushing their teeth, washing themselves, or even changing their clothes.

For this reason, Hygiene Kits are a commodity among the homeless. So it is no wonder that when most volunteers come down to Skid Row, they want to hand out Hygiene Kits: toothbrushes, toothpaste, deodorant, razors, shaving cream, socks, etc.

While Hygiene Kits are a necessity, there are a few reasons why openly handing them out on the street might end up being counterproductive to the ultimate goal of volunteers. “When [the guests] don’t need it,” says Antonio Vera, Sr. Case Manager at Urban Connection, “they sell it.”

Because Hygiene Kits are so important, most of the many local missions hand them out or make them readily available on a daily basis. Yet when large volunteer groups arrive, often their first step is to hand out Hygiene Kits or Gift Bags. This means many guests will get duplicates or take a Kit or Gift Bag even when they do not need the items.

Rather than keep the additional items, most of the guests will choose to sell them. This is not only an injustice to those who really need the items and cannot spare the extra change, but also the money exchanged is often used to purchase drugs or alcohol.

So how do we make sure that the hygiene kits make it to the people who need them the most? That’s a question that the Urban Connection is ready to answer.

You see, Hygiene Kits and Gift Bags are not all bad. Not only do some people desperately need them, but they are also a great tangible way to show a homeless person that you care about them. On top of it all, Hygiene Kits and Gift Bags  provide an easy way for volunteers to approach guests and start a conversation.

At the Urban Connection, we’ve come up with a better way to distribute these items. If a volunteer group would like to assemble Hygiene Kits or Gift Bags, they may use the safe, open space of Urban Connection to do so. Afterwards, the Urban Connection staff and interns will gladly keep the Kits and distribute them to those who are in real need of them, ensuring that the items are used rather than sold.

For those volunteers who would like to hand the Hygiene Kits and Gift Bags out personally, Urban Connection provides a Coffee Bar where volunteers and guests can sit and talk to each other, and where a volunteer can learn a guest’s real needs. If, after a few minutes of chatting with a guest, a volunteer finds they are in need of a Hygiene Kit, they can provide one for the guest at that time.

This ensures two important things: 1) that the right people get these items and 2) that the act of handing out a Hygiene Kit is more than simply a hand-off from a line, but instead serves as a personal interaction point for volunteer and guest.

Hygiene Kits and Gift Bags are important, and always a need among the 7,000 – 8,000 individuals who call the streets of Skid Row their home. Still, it is equally important in this kind of community that they are distributed fairly and effectively. We can all give so much more when we give in the right ways.

If you would like to assemble hygiene kits or otherwise volunteer at the Urban Connection, visit our Volunteer Signup Page!